The Multichain for Auditors

Ali Atiia

Founder yAcademy|yAudit

@AliAtiia_

yAcademy

https://yacademy.dev/fellowships

Prelude

An aspiring blockchain auditor wonders: where should invest my time?

An aspiring blockchain auditor wonders: where should invest my time?

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• Programming languages: generic, DSLs, restricted X ∊ {Rust, Haskell, Java, Golang, ..}
• Domains: DeFi, Infra, ZK, …
• Blockchains: sharded, monolithic, shared-security, sovereign, ..

An aspiring blockchain auditor wonders: where should invest my time?

​

• Programming languages: generic, DSLs, restricted X ∊ {Rust, Haskell, Java, Golang, ..}
• Domains: DeFi, Infra, ZK, …
• Blockchains: sharded, monolithic, shared-security, sovereign, ..

Go where the devs are

Go where the devs are going

An aspiring blockchain auditor wonders: where should invest my time?

​

• Programming languages: generic, DSLs, restricted X ∊ {Rust, Haskell, Java, Golang, ..}
• Domains: DeFi, Infra, ZK, …
• Blockchains: sharded, monolithic, shared-security, sovereign, ..

Where are develops going?

So where do developers go?

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​

I have a theory…

The capital of a software developer is her time and skill. When deploying this capital, she needs to optimize for:

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(1) efficiency: minimum time to get her software out into the wild.�(2) effectiveness: maximum reach and durability of her software.

Problem statement: what is the overarching domain-, context- and scale-independent law that has thus far held over the past 6–7 decades of software evolution? What evolutionary adaptations have emerged in order to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness constraints of software development?

Solution Approach: apply the universal law of the outsourcing of concerns thru abstraction to blockchain development. What concerns can be outsourced to blockchain networks which could not have otherwise been abstracted away?

Problem statement: what is the overarching domain-, context- and scale-independent law that has thus far held over the past 6–7 decades of software evolution? What evolutionary adaptations have emerged in order to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness constraints of software developers?

Solution Approach: apply the universal law of the outsourcing of concerns thru abstraction to blockchain development. What concerns can be outsourced to blockchain networks which could not have otherwise been abstracted away?

Problem statement: what is the overarching domain-, context- and scale-independent law that has thus far held over the past 6–7 decades of software evolution? What evolutionary adaptations have emerged in order to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness constraints of software developers?

Solution Approach: apply the universal law of outsourcing of concerns thru abstraction to blockchain development. What concerns can be outsourced to blockchain networks which could not have otherwise been abstracted away?

Problem statement: what is the overarching domain-, context- and scale-independent law that has thus far held over the past 6–7 decades of software evolution? What evolutionary adaptations have emerged in order to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness constraints of software developers?

Design: developers will outsource their trust concerns to a durably reliable and secure API provider, one that most satisfies the “hook-it-and-forget-it” principle.

Solution Approach: apply the universal law of outsourcing of concerns thru abstraction to blockchain development. What concerns can be outsourced to blockchain networks which could not have otherwise been abstracted away?

Problem statement: what is the overarching domain-, context- and scale-independent law that has thus far held over the past 6–7 decades of software evolution? What evolutionary adaptations have emerged in order to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness constraints of software developers?

Design: developers will outsource their trust concerns to a durably reliable and secure API provider, one that most satisfies the “hook-it-and-forget-it” principle.

Implementation: sharded blockchains have the most viable path towards durable security.

Solution Approach: apply the universal law of outsourcing of concerns thru abstraction to blockchain development. What concerns can be outsourced to blockchain networks which could not have otherwise been abstracted away?

Problem statement: what is the overarching domain-, context- and scale-independent law that has thus far held over the past 6–7 decades of software evolution? What evolutionary adaptations have emerged in order to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness constraints of software developers?

Design: developers will outsource their trust concerns to a durably reliable and secure API provider, one that most satisfies the “hook-it-and-forget-it” principle.

Implementation: sharded blockchains have the most viable path towards durable security

Falsification: If monolithic or app-specific roll-your-own-security chains proliferate, the our thesis above is wrong, and vice versa.

Solution Approach: apply the universal law of outsourcing of concerns thru abstraction to blockchain development. What concerns can be outsourced to blockchain networks which could not have otherwise been abstracted away?

Problem statement: what is the overarching domain-, context- and scale-independent law that has thus far held over the past 6–7 decades of software evolution? What evolutionary adaptations have emerged in order to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness constraints of software developers?

Design: outsource your trust concerns to a durably reliable and secure API provider, one that most satisfies the “hook-it-and-forget-it” principle.

Implementation: sharded blockchains have the most viable path towards durable security

Falsification: if monolithic or app-specific roll-your-own-security chains proliferate, the thesis presented in this article would be invalidated, and vice versa.

�Extensions: the law of abstraction of concerns will continue to shape software evolution into the future.

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We can observe glimpses of its future effects through the emerging new layers of abstractions (top of the stack):

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• IaaS, PaaS, ..
• low-, no-, and visual-programming.
• AI-assisted programming�

Thesis summary:

• Concerns want to be outsourced
• Trust is *the* major concern and raison d'être of blockchains
• Sharded blockchains are most likely to provide durable security
• That’s where the devs are most likely to go
• Therefore that’s where you should invest your time as an auditor

In short ..

❌ Top-down “hard work”: dig deep into whitepapers, blog posts, and github codebases for every project

✅ Bottom-up “smart work”: identify what makes an ecosystem viable, then skim ahead and see if you can find that thing in each project

In short ..

❌ Top-down “hard work”: dig deep into whitepapers, blog posts, and github codebases for every project

✅ Bottom-up “smart work”: identify what makes an ecosystem viable, then skim ahead and see if you can find that thing in each project

A path to durable security

Blockchain Tech Recap

The 3 Major Milestones

• Paradigm shift in human coordination
• App-specific: coin transfer, “money”
• State machine is not fit for building layers of abstraction on top
• Writing Script scripts ( ) is like trying to do construction work with a swiss army knife

• Paradigm shift in human coordination
• App-specific: coin transfer, “money”
• State machine is not fit for building layers of abstraction on top
• Writing Script scripts ( ) is like trying to do construction work with a swiss army knife

• Lots of Bitcoin clones 2011 ~ 2017 ish … the birth of the “alt” paradigm:
• Sidekick……………………………………………………….. Litecoin
• SaaS-y………………………………………………………….. Dash
• Private……………..………………………………………….. Zcash/Monero
• Cheap .................................................................. Bitcoin Cash
• Fun ………………………………………………………………. Doge

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• Auditing:
• Lots of bugs in Bitcoin codebase in early years
• Stakes weren’t high enough yet, so no biggy
• Not much built with “Script”, unsurprisingly, so not much auditing demand -still the case today and (imo) forever

• Proper virtual machine atop which higher-level langs can compile to
• Bad design choices recognized immediately
• Improvements continue to this day, some choices are stuck probably forever

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• Proper virtual machine atop which higher-level langs can compile to
• Bad design choices recognized immediately
• Improvements continue to this day, some choices are stuck probably forever

​

-Auditing:

• dApps started trickling immediately after launch: prediction markets, ENS, DAOs, ..
• 2017: the ERC20 explosion (ICOs)
• Still not a massive demand for auditing, till …
• DeFi 2019-2020 .. auditing demands explodes

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

​

Marketing

Reality

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

UTXO cult………………………………………………………………………………....……… Cardano, Nervos

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

UTXO cult………………………………………………………………………………....……… Cardano, Nervos

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

UTXO cult………………………………………………………………………………....……… Cardano, Nervos

“Sidechain-ing is a feature not a bug”……………………... Cosmos

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

UTXO cult………………………………………………………………………………....……… Cardano, Nervos

“Sidechain-ing is a feature not a bug”……………………... Cosmos

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

UTXO cult………………………………………………………………………………....……… Cardano, Nervos

“Sidechain-ing is a feature not a bug”……………………... Cosmos

“Bring back the SaaS” ………………………………………………………….... Solana, Dfinity

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

UTXO cult………………………………………………………………………………....……… Cardano, Nervos

“Sidechain-ing is a feature not a bug”……………………... Cosmos

“Bring back the SaaS” ………………………………………………………….... Solana, Dfinity

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

UTXO cult………………………………………………………………………………....……… Cardano, Nervos

“Sidechain-ing is a feature not a bug”……………………... Cosmos

“Bring back the SaaS” ………………………………………………………….... Solana, Dfinity

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

UTXO cult………………………………………………………………………………....……… Cardano, Nervos

“Sidechain-ing is a feature not a bug”……………………... Cosmos

“Bring back the SaaS” ………………………………………………………….... Solana, Dfinity

“We can do sharding better”....................................................... Polkadot, NEAR

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

UTXO cult………………………………………………………………………………....……… Cardano, Nervos

“Sidechain-ing is a feature not a bug”……………………... Cosmos

“Bring back the SaaS” ………………………………………………………….... Solana, Dfinity

“We can do sharding better”....................................................... Polkadot, NEAR

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

UTXO cult………………………………………………………………………………....……… Cardano, Nervos

“Sidechain-ing is a feature not a bug”……………………... Cosmos

“Bring back the SaaS” ………………………………………………………….... Solana, Dfinity

“We can do sharding better”....................................................... Polkadot, NEAR

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

UTXO cult………………………………………………………………………………....……… Cardano, Nervos

“Sidechain-ing is a feature not a bug”……………………... Cosmos

“Bring back the SaaS” ………………………………………………………….... Solana, Dfinity

“We can do sharding better”....................................................... Polkadot, NEAR

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

UTXO cult………………………………………………………………………………....……… Cardano, Nervos

“Sidechain-ing is a feature not a bug”……………………... Cosmos

“Bring back the SaaS” ………………………………………………………….... Solana, Dfinity

“We can do sharding better”....................................................... Polkadot, NEAR

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

UTXO cult………………………………………………………………………………....……… Cardano, Nervos

“Sidechain-ing is a feature not a bug”……………………... Cosmos

“Bring back the SaaS” ………………………………………………………….... Solana, Dfinity

“We can do sharding better”....................................................... Polkadot, NEAR

​

2017: ICO wave spurred an explosion of chains

� “Ethereum killing” EVM clones…………………………..……….…… NEO anyone?

Shiny new consensus algo ................................................... Ava, Algorand, Hedera

“Let’s get weird”..................................................................................... Rchain lol

Formal verification snake oil.................................................... Cardano, Zilliqa, Tezos

UTXO cult………………………………………………………………………………....……… Cardano, Nervos

“Sidechain-ing is a feature not a bug”……………………... Cosmos

“Bring back the SaaS” ………………………………………………………….... Solana, Dfinity

“We can do sharding better”....................................................... Polkadot, NEAR

​

• Auditing 2017-2022:
• EVM and clones: most of the demand is here
• New runtimes with potential: mainly Rust and Rust-inspired DSLs
• You can safely ignore DX-unfriendly runtimes, such as those tailored for “muh formal verification” … there is ~zero demand for them.

2020 - 2021:

• Interactive fraud proofs win
• ZK Rollups surprise everyone

2020 - 2021:

• Interactive fraud proofs win
• ZK Rollups surprise everyone

• Auditing:
• Smart contracts:
• nothing new to learn in terms of source code
• L1 contracts:
• Fraud proof machinery, deposit/withdraw, …
• ZKP verifier contracts
• Infra:
• ORU: prevailing paradigm of “sandwiching the EVM” results in minimal diff with go-ethereum
• ZKRU: extremely high demand to audit ZK circuits (prover)

• Auditing:
• Smart contracts:
• nothing new to learn in terms of source code
• L1 contracts:
• Fraud proof machinery, deposit/withdraw, …
• ZKP verifier contracts
• Infra:
• ORU: prevailing paradigm of “sandwiching the EVM” results in minimal diff with go-ethereum
• ZKRU: extremely high demand to audit ZK circuits (prover)

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Solidity/Cairo

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Rust/Circom

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• Auditing ZK:
• Mina ecosystem (a recursive SNARK-based blockchain)
• ZK dApps (voting, gaming, rate-limiting)
• This is buzzing and may explode any minute
• Mostly in Circom now
• ZK Rollups

• Auditing ZK:
• Mina ecosystem (a recursive SNARK-based blockchain)
• ZK dApps (voting, gaming, rate-limiting)
• This is buzzing and may explode any minute
• ZK Rollups

Probability

Number Theory

Abstract Algebra

Cryptography

Complexity

Theory

• Auditing ZK:
• Mina ecosystem (a recursive SNARK-based blockchain)
• ZK dApps (voting, gaming, rate-limiting)
• This is buzzing and may explode any minute
• ZK Rollups

Probability

Number Theory

Abstract Algebra

Cryptography

Complexity

Theory

Auditing the Multichain�(tooling)

Ethereum

Geth-fork chains

Rollups sandwiches

Rollup smart contracts

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WASM smart contracts

Infra

Smart-contract verifiers

Infra (provers)

zk-dApps

Circom

Auditing the Multichain�(ecosystems)

Based on “Durable Security” Thesis

Further reading:�

• “The Investment Thesis of a Blockchain Developer”

article on GourmetCrypto substack�

• Search my twitter feed:

[project_name] from:aliatiia_

Thanks